Astros promise tailgating decision within a week

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Astros owner Jim Crane said Wednesday he will decide within a week whether the team will allow tailgating in lots around Minute Maid Park this season after City Council changed Houston’s open container law to allow pre-game drinking at downtown sports venues.

“We would be leaning toward a fan-friendly situation if we can accommodate it. That’ll be my preference. But there’s consequences with that, with cleanup and where you do it and how you contain it and make sure it’s safe and all those things, so that’s what we’re reviewing,” Crane said before a City Hall news conference at which he and Mayor Annise Parker announced details of a welcome home parade for Iraq war veterans planned for April 7.

Asked how quickly he will make a decision about tailgating, Crane estimated less than a week.

“I do everything fast. As soon as I have that information I’ll make a decision. I’m in the overnight business. I don’t mess around,” Crane said, a reference to his cargo-shipping business.

Until Wednesday, the city’s law against open containers and public drinking downtown had included the parking lots around Minute Maid Park and the Toyota Center.

There long has been a tailgating scene before Dynamo games at the University of Houston’s Robertson Stadium. The Dynamo is putting the final touches on a stadium opening in May across U.S. 59 from Minute Maid Park, so the team asked the city for the change.

Council unanimously passed the amendment to the booze ban.

Each team now has a decision to make on pre-game festivities.

Doug Hall, general manager of the Dynamo’s BBVA Compass Stadium, said tailgating will be allowed in the 1,500 spaces the stadium leases in Minute Maid Park’s lots B & C on game days.

“It’s a very big deal for the Dynamo,” said team President Chris Canetti. “Our fans really enjoy it. It’s a big part of the whole experience and it was at risk of being discontinued.”

Canetti said, though, that lots B & C are largely sold out to season ticket holders, and the team is looking for more locations because tailgating is authorized only at team-controlled lots.